China Is Only the Latest Front
In Sun-Microsoft Software War

BEIJING -- Sun Microsystems Inc. opened a distant new front in its software war with Microsoft Corp., as a platoon of Sun executives jetted to China.

Sun is hoping to reverse official skepticism here toward one of its hottest products, the Java programming language. In this once-centrally planned economy, a clear government endorsement can make a huge difference. Sun officials said that with Beijing planning to spend $20 billion over the next three years on information infrastructure -- or 20% of the world's estimated...